The tipster who first led federal authorities to a conspiracy of rich-and-famous parents and coaches greasing the way for privileged applicants at elite universities was a financial executive looking to cut a deal in his own criminal case, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The Journal, citing unnamed sources, identified the man as Morrie Tobin, a Los Angeles financial executive who was being questioned in an alleged pump-and-dump scheme – in which offenders drive up stock prices so they can sell them off at a profit. According to the Journal, Tobin offered feds a tip so he would get leniency in his security fraud case.

Tobin, a Yale alumnus, told investigators the head women's soccer coach at Yale had sought a bribe in return for getting Tobin's daughter into the Ivy League school, the Journal reported.

The tip triggered an investigation in which the vast scheme was unraveled, implicating dozens of wealthy parents who allegedly paid a college consultant to facilitate their kids' cheating on entrance exams, falsifying athletic profiles, and bribing coaches. The elite schools included the University of Southern California, Georgetown, Stanford, and Yale.

Tobin is awaiting sentencing in his case, in which he signed a plea agreement in November, the Journal reported.

The tipster who first led federal authorities to a conspiracy of rich-and-famous parents and coaches greasing the way for privileged applicants at elite universities was a financial executive looking to cut a deal in his own criminal case, The Wall Street Journal reported.